I am on day 95 on my journey to make a block print of some kind every day this year. I am also on day 43 of the 100 day project Instagram challenge. Some surprising insights are the amount of mess I have been making without taking time to tidy up and the frequency of tangents I go off on. Both of these discoveries are creating a growing urgency in me to get my works in progress organized. But first I have to get everything ready for my solo show that is being installed on April 28th. I have figured out what pieces I want to include and a few that I still want to finish. Then I have to get everything into the Artist Archive program that I have started using to get my inventory organized. It helps me keep track of what is where at any given time and is fantastic for getting ready for a solo show. I will be able to print out labels and all the paperwork I need so easily. Once everything is entered. I am waiting for a few pieces that are getting scanned and framed. I’m getting there.

I have created new sets of blocks for my small torus mandala prints and some new square blocks, too. I am going to use some of the mandalas in the UW Hospital show at the end of month and the squares are some of the rabbit holes I have been exploring. I keep putting the squares aside to finish everything for the show, but they have some heavy gravity for me right now! The reasons for the square blocks are a traveling block printing kit I am assembling for a trip planned at the beginning of May and for Victorian Puzzle Purses. Back in March I posted about the travel kit and occasionally I think of a new block to supplement the kit and I love this larger, combined block and now I want to make them in lots of sizes.

I was starting to lose or damage things so I did a good tidy of my work space and only moved one small pile to another table. And then there were the Victorian Puzzle Purses! I don’t remember where I first saw them but I have watched so many videos on YouTube and Instagram and I am thrilled with the blocks I have carved so far. I do keep making them so I don’t forget the folds, but no more designing for them until the show is up!

I have been playing around with stitching and block printing increasingly this year. Here are some early paper stitching projects. I’m going to take an exciting Sashiko class in Door County later this summer and I am struggling to hold off on these until after the show is ready. It is actually really exciting to see a body of work come together. I’m writing positive songs, poems and meditations in the background of most of them because I need to balance the energy of the protests and rage about what is happening with peace and beauty where I can.

Peace